Yuri is an old Russian man living alone in the arctic as a hermitic survivalist. He made his first appearance in "Yuri and the Bear".
Appearance
Yuri is a tall man and even with age, he appears to be quite muscular. His eyes are small and black, his beard is very long, besides being white, with his mustache covering his mouth. He wears a long-sleeved sweater, pants with suspenders and boots. His snow attire consists of a dark brown ushanka hat, longcoat, and black gloves.
Personality
Yuri's personality can be defined as "explosive," thanks to certain scenes in which he irritates himself quite easily (such as in the scene where Ice Bear tinkers with his treasure chest). Yuri may also suffer from "Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder", most likely from whatever happened to his family. Yuri also speaks in the third person, much like Ice Bear, explaining where Ice Bear acquired his speech pattern.
Despite his tragic past and distant, temperamental behavior, Yuri is shown to have a warmer side, as he used to be a loving family man and raised Ice Bear into who he is today. It gets to the point where he is willing to protect him with his life in spite of his relapse to his anger and grief and becomes remorseful for it.
Relationships
Ice Bear
As seen in "Yuri and the Bear", Yuri and Ice Bear got along very well, almost as a paternal relationship. Yuri raised Ice Bear for as long as he could, teaching him to speak Russian, cook, and other skills, most prominently how to use an axe in a quick sequnce with a nice song. Also with the very touching end scene with Yuri leaving Ice Bear with an axe.
Yana
At the end of "Icy Nights II" Ice Bear finds a picture of Yuri in Yana's locket, revealing that Yana is Yuri's daughter. It can be assumed that he misses his daughter very much but is unaware that she is still around, instead trying to forget about her, since he rejected Ice Bear's wooden toy horse that used to belong to her and forbid him from touching the chest containing precious mementos of her and his wife.
Episode Appearances
Season 2
- "Yuri and the Bear" (debut)
Season 3
- "Icy Nights II" (cameo)
Season 4
- "Band of Outsiders" (flashback)
Trivia
- It's revealed that Yuri taught Ice Bear to knit, speak Russian, and use an axe. He also taught him housekeeping and cooking.
- Ice Bear also developed Yuri's personality traits, speech pattern, and mannerisms from spending time with him.
- Yuri's world map lacks the Northwest Passage, implying it was created before 1850.
- It is revealed in the the episode "Icy Nights II" that Yana is Yuri's long lost daughter.
